Earlier this year, GameOn were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of Star Wars: The Old Republic while attending E3
back in June, whilst only being a viewing of the game, it still gave an
insight on how the game was progressing. Fast forwarding to August at
GamesCom, GameOn were even more privileged to obtain a hands-on
demonstration of this highly anticipated MMO from the creative pockets
of Bioware.

Walking into the Star Wars themed booth was very dangerous territory
for me, not to mention dangerous for the Bioware team residing within.
Having combined two of my passions, Star Wars and MMORPG's, it could
have proven very difficult for me to leave the pc, not to mention
difficult for the staff to tear me away from the seat.

With World of Warcraft reigning supreme at the crest of MMO gaming, it
was interesting to see what Bioware had created in order to topple the
King, or at the very least, punch a huge hole in Blizzard's armour and
take a chunk of its user base away.
The section of gameplay on show to us was set on an Imperial Star
Destroyer which became under attack by Republic troops and we were
given control of an Imperial Sith Warrior. From the outset of this
demonstration mission, it was clear that Bioware have big plans for
this game.

The full voice narration for every character you come across is a
huge part of the interaction and immersion of your character
development, no more reading a little pop up box with your quest
information, now you get a nice interactive cut scene with your mission
details which also includes dialogue options which determine how your
avatar's personality will be portrayed while communicating with other
NPC's.

These moral choices you make also determine the path you walk down in
the game world's persistent story line, so once that decision is made
there is no turning back. Some opportunities may open up while others
will become closed off for your character. This should provide a unique
experience for each and every player who picks this title up.

The control system is very similar to World of Warcraft, utilising
a modern FPS keyset (WASD) for movement and using either you clicking
the icons on your action bar or pressing their pre-defined key binding
to activate your skills, the positioning of your health bar, action
bars and mini map are at the bottom of the screen, leaving the rest of
your view port for all the action you'll be getting into. No doubt all
of this will be customisable for those who seek the perfect UI though
it is too early to indicate whether Bioware will support the creation
of third party UI modifications akin to the myriad of addons available
for World of Warcraft.

Visually, the game looks very authentic, the bridge of the Star
Destroyer was laid out as expected even if the game is set 3000 years
prior to the shenanigans of Anakin Skywalker and Co. The faction
difference is easily identifiable, while we were dressed in dark
apparel, the Republic troops which boarded our vessel were in bright
uniforms so picking out adversaries in a fight should pose little
problem.

Throughout our playtime with this game, our thoughts of "This is
going to be something special" were growing stronger with every minute
we spent with The Old Republic. Even in these early stages of playable
code, the possibilities of the title are very exciting indeed, Bioware
have an excellent reputation for producing quality RPG's, just take a
look at Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect for example, the
team here at GameOn really cannot wait to get our hands on the finished
product.
Bioware were tight lipped on time scales for this potential WoW
beater, nor did they let slip if they had any plans of closed or open
beta's however, I'm sure you will agree this will be a game to wait
patiently for.